Tubes

[soulspinner]

Tubes are one of a bike shops biggest margins. For a couple flats a year, I will buy from them @ 8 per.

[Cloozoe]

I sympathize with bike shops, I do; I know that with their cost of goods and expense structure --not limited to but most notably real estate-- they're not making any more selling something at $2x than a large internet dealer is at $x. Gross margin, maybe. Net? Nuh-uh.

And theoretically they are an asset, offering service, advice, immediate gratification, sponsoring rides, etc.

But I don't need their mechanical help, I ride alone or with a few friends, and --at least where I live-- their offerings are so limited and vanilla that there's sort of no reason to visit; they almost certainly won't have what I'm looking for in the first place and it doesn't make for interesting browsing in the second. I guess I could buy tubes there, but I'm never out and when I get low I can have them delivered to my door tomorrow without getting off my lazy ass. And have more options. For less.

What I won't/don't do, is go to a shop to see and try something in person with no intent to buy and then after wasting their time, buy it online for less. Fortunately, this bit of ethical scrupulosity comes at almost no cost; if you're not looking for Trek, Cannondale, or Bontrager, you're SOL anyway.

Other than that, like I say, I sympathize, but...